Sylhet-3: AL retains seat with increased majority, amid drastic drop in turnout

Sylhet
September 04, 2021, 08:46 PM
by UNB NEWS

UNB News
Sylhet
Publish- September 04, 2021, 08:46 PM
UNB NEWS
Update- September 05, 2021, 02:34 AM

Sylhet-3: AL retains seat with increased majority, amid drastic drop in turnout

Awami League candidate Habibur Rahman Habib won the Sylhet-3 by-polls on Saturday, beating his nearest rival Jatiya Party’s Atikur Rahman Atik by a huge margin.

According to official results Habib bagged 90,064 votes in the constituency comprising three upazilas of Dakkhin Surma, Fenchuganj and Balaganj. Atik got only 24,752 votes.

Sylhet Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer Kazi Emdadul Islam announced the results at 9:15 pm on Saturday.

Apart from these two candidates, BNP rebel Alhaj Shafi Ahmed Chowdhury got 5,136 votes and Junaid Md Mia of Bangladesh Congress got 640 votes.

A total of 120, 591 votes were cast, the DC added.

Read: Sylhet by-election to be held on Sept 4

Voting through the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) began at 8am in 149 centres and continued till 4pm without any break, he said .

He also informed that 35 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots. That represents a massive drop from the 81% (plus some) who turned out in 2018. It was still a landslide for AL candidate Mahmud Us Samad Chowdhury, who with 1.76 lakh votes cornered 67% of the votes cast.

The constituency fell vacant after Mahmud Us Samad Chowdhury, a three-term parliamentarian, succumbed to Covid on March 11.

The by-poll was deferred twice due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Some 350,000 (3.5 lakh) people were eligible to vote in the by-poll. Winning 90,000 of the 120,000 votes cast (approx.) meant he won three quarters of the votes cast, securing an enhanced majority. in the constituency.